For centuries vampires have been known for sleeping in coffins and using their fangs to drink the blood of their victims. Ancient mummies were said to be cursed to come after the living. The earliest zombies rose from the dead because of curses or evil magic, but more recently are known for coming back to feed on human brains. These undead monsters and others have frightened people throughout history. They have also made their way into the books, movies, and games we love. Are the undead real or imaginary? Dig deep to learn the facts and fiction of undead monsters . . . if you dare!

From the creator of the popular blog The Monsters Know What They’re Doing comes a compilation of villainous battle plans for Dungeon Masters. In the course of a Dungeons & Dragons game, a Dungeon Master has to make one decision after another in response to player behavior—and the better the players, the more unpredictable their behavior! It’s easy for even an experienced DM to get bogged down in on-the-spot decision-making or to let combat devolve into a boring slugfest, with enemies running directly at the player characters and biting, bashing, and slashing away. In The Monsters Know What They’re Doing, Keith Ammann lightens the DM’s burden by helping you understand your monsters’ abilities and develop battle plans before your fifth edition D&D game session begins. Just as soldiers don’t whip out their field manuals for the first time when they’re already under fire, a DM shouldn’t wait until the PCs have just encountered a dozen bullywugs to figure out how they advance, fight, and retreat. Easy to read and apply, The Monsters Know What They're Doing is essential reading for every DM.

The New Testament records seven separate incidents of dead people returning to life through the power of God. In the midst of the current cultural fascination with undead creatures, many believers in the church are more familiar with zombies in entertainment than with the amazing stories of new life recorded in the Bible. Undead: Revived, Resuscitated, and Reborn retells these stories in a unique style that will reach a new generation of readers and challenge them to come back from the spiritual dead. Few believers realize that many people - including six specific individuals - are raised from the dead between the Gospels and book of Acts. Undead applies those stories to revitalize the faith of believers while leading seekers to discover the spiritual resuscitation that only comes from God through His Son. By examining each story of resuscitation, readers discover gospel truths that they can apply to their own lies in ways that will elevate hope and challenge faith. Relating to the characters in these accounts helps bring to light areas in our lives that may need revitalization and challenge us to decide whether we will allow God to transform us. Click here to download the FREE Study Guide.

A thorough analysis of zombies in popular culture from the 1930s to contemporary society. The zombie apocalypse hasn’t happened—yet—but zombies are all over popular culture. From movies and TV shows to video games and zombie walks, the undead stalk through our collective fantasies. What is it about zombies that exerts such a powerful fascination? In Not Your Average Zombie, Chera Kee offers an innovative answer by looking at zombies that don’t conform to the stereotypes of mindless slaves or flesh-eating cannibals. Zombies who think, who speak, and who feel love can be sympathetic and even politically powerful, she asserts. Kee analyzes zombies in popular culture from 1930s depictions of zombies in voodoo rituals to contemporary film and television, comic books, video games, and fan practices such as zombie walks. She discusses how the zombie has embodied our fears of losing the self through slavery and cannibalism and shows how “extra-ordinary” zombies defy that loss of free will by refusing to be dehumanized. By challenging their masters, falling in love, and leading rebellions, “extra-ordinary” zombies become figures of liberation and resistance. Kee also thoroughly investigates how representations of racial and gendered identities in zombie texts offer opportunities for living people to gain agency over their lives. Not Your Average Zombie thus deepens and broadens our understanding of how media producers and consumers take up and use these undead figures to make political interventions in the world of the living. “Kee provides a compelling synthesis of theory and criticism . . . useful for horror scholars interested in how portrayals of zombie intersect with race and gender.” —Popular Culture Studies Journal “Kee’s Not Your Average Zombie is an important book . . . Put simply: if it's the one book you read about or cite on zombie, you've made an excellent choice.” —American Quarterly “[Not Your Average Zombie] offers a fresh theoretical framework to a fast-growing field . . . A fascinating contribution to the critical conversation about the zombie as a fantastic figure.” —Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts “I’m impressed by Kee’s scholarship across several fields—film history and gender and critical race studies, especially—and her cultural and historical contextualizing of the current zombie renaissance.” —James H. Cox, University of Texas at Austin, author of The Red Land to the South: American Indian Writers and Indigenous Mexico

Magic, monsters, and mystery, the perfect landscape for a dangerous journey. Join the master wizard Gairen on his epic quest to bring justice to a harsh world in need of a hero. Hear Gairen?s thoughts as he battles demons, gains unique friends, and defiantly stands against the darkest wizard of all time. Begin the journey, and take part in the monumental struggle between good and evil. The time is now.

Achieving his clinic's independence leaves Glenn suddenly swamped with work. He's treating a Gigas for heatstroke, caring for a sunburnt mermaid, and performing health examinations on the final candidates for Lindworm ambassador to the human realm! And if that wasn't enough, when Illy and Plum--the candidates in question--start feuding over something petty, Glenn finds himself tasked with patching up their relationship as well as their wounds.

Presents information about zombies, describing legends about their creation and including stories about them from the past.

The most comprehensive zombie handbook ever published—with a foreword by Max Brooks! In one indispensable volume, Matt Mogk busts popular myths and answers all your raging questions about the living dead.* Q. How can I increase my chances of survival? A. One simple step is to keep away from other people. Without people there can be no zombies. Q. What is the connection between the Voodoo zombie and the flesh-eating zombie of popular culture? A. Other than a shared name, absolutely nothing. Q. Will zombies actually eat me, or will they just bite and chew? A. Research suggests the neuromuscular activity required for swallowing may be too complex for a zombie. Q. Will we see any warning signs before the dead rise? A. Unfortunately, entire populations could be infected with the zombie sickness before anyone even knows there’s a problem. Q. How come Zombie Awareness Month is in May and not October? A. Unlike witches and vampires, zombies are not otherworldly creatures. They are made of flesh and blood. Don’t forget to wear your gray ribbon. * Many more questions about zombies—including why not all of them are undead—are answered inside the book.

To what extent did mythological figures such as Circe and Medea influence the representation of the powerful 'oriental' enchantress in modern Western art? What role did the ancient gods and heroes play in the construction of the imaginary worlds of the modern fantasy genre? What is the role of undead creatures like zombies and vampires in mythological films? Looking across the millennia, from the distrust of ancient magic and oriental cults, which threatened the new-born Christian religion, to the revival and adaptation of ancient myths and religion in the arts centuries later, this book offers an original analysis of the reception of ancient magic and the supernatural, across a wide variety of different media – from comics to film, from painting to opera. Working in a variety of fields across the globe, the authors of these essays deconstruct certain scholarly traditions by proposing original interdisciplinary approaches and collaborations, showing to what extent the visual and performing arts of different periods interlink and shape cultural and social identities.